Worcester's New Weave

Thursday

Aug 19, 2010 at 9:00 AM

Scenic Elm Park will be the site of an unusual and inspired art installation presented by SAORI Worcester from August 25-29, to celebrate both the 10th anniversary of the arrival of SAORI in the United States and the 25th anniversary of the renovation of the park’s bridges.

Scenic Elm Park will be the site of an unusual and inspired art installation presented by SAORI Worcester from August 25-29, to celebrate both the 10th anniversary of the arrival of SAORI in the United States and the 25th anniversary of the renovation of the park&rsquo;s bridges.

SAORI, according to Nathaniel Needle, who runs SAORI Worcester with his wife, Mihoko Wakabayashi, is an &ldquo;improvisational form of weaving started in the 1960s in Japan.&rdquo; The word itself derives from two Japanese words: ORI- weaving; and SA, which, in Needle&rsquo;s best approximation translates as &ldquo;each thing has its own unique individual quality.&rdquo; Together, the two words can be said to mean &ldquo;weave thyself.&rdquo;

The installation will consist of 66 banners, each roughly four meters long and 50 centimeters wide, which will be hung on the Elm Park bridges. The banners are the handiwork of local individuals and groups, such as the third-grade students of Belmont School, as well as artists from such far-flung locales as British Columbia and Ontario, Canada; Japan and Hawaii. According to Needle, individuals from ages seven to 79 have participated in creating the banners, with about a quarter of them woven by people with disabilities.

&ldquo;The group is extremely representative of Worcester,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So many people have been willing to donate their effort, make the banner and then let go of it. Seeing all these banners come in has been pretty moving.&rdquo;

This installation has been &ldquo;Nat&rsquo;s vision from the beginning,&rdquo; says SAORI Worcester&rsquo;s intern Grace Cherubino, a student at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.&nbsp;

Each banner will be sponsored and then given to the sponsor after the event with the aim of creating a multi-thousand-dollar scholarship fund to enable low-income neighborhood children to come and weave. Weaving can help &ldquo;create a different identity for kids, especially at-risk kids,&rdquo; explains Needle.

&ldquo;We want to make classes available to all ages, all abilities,&rdquo; says Wakabayashi. &ldquo;Teaching is a bigger part of the business than selling.&rdquo; Wakabayashi&rsquo;s own fiber-art is on display at the Worcester Center for Crafts, the Danforth Museum in Framingham, and the Wachusett Art Emporium in Holden. She likens the relationship between SAORI and traditional weaving to that between jazz and classical music; SAORI affords the opportunity for the artist to be more creative, less constrained by form. The artist&rsquo;s ideas may come from &ldquo;a color, a particular yarn, a specific design...&rdquo; and may be embellished with beads or other objects. Some contributing artists have embraced &ldquo;the challenge of using unusual materials such as wire or banana leaves.&rdquo;

Wakabayashi maintains a relationship with SAORI Japan, makers of the nine looms in the Worcester studio. She has organized conferences in Worcester, New York and Minnesota.

Both Wakabayashi and Needle aspire to goals beyond the anniversary celebrations. Ideas and ideals of community and civic activism inform their efforts. They view this upcoming event as a &ldquo;community peace installation,&rdquo; demonstrating the values of &ldquo;creativity, collaboration and contribution.&rdquo; They want &ldquo;to highlight Worcester as a creative place,&rdquo; as well as draw attention to ongoing Art in the Park exhibits. Needle further hopes to draw visitors&rsquo; attention to the exhibit&rsquo;s multidimensionality, encouraging people to view the banners from both on and off the bridges, in addition to observing the banners&rsquo; reflections in the water beneath. It will be &ldquo;extremely beautiful, extremely colorful,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;an explosion of universal human creativity.&rdquo;

SAORI Bridges of Elm Park. Wednesday August 25&ndash;Sunday August 29, dawn to dusk. Elm Park, Worcester. To sponsor a banner or volunteer to help monitor the installation, contact SAORI Worcester at 508-757-4646 or mihoko@saoriworcester.com

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